Have just written a letter to my MP, John Hayes:
Year: 2011
I don’t follow Strictly Come Dancing, so although I knew it was the final tonight, it had no interest for me.
However, tuning on my TV just before 7, and flicking through the channel guide, I saw that as well as broadcasting on Freeview on BBC1 and BBC1HD, they were also showing it on the generic BBCHD channel in 3D.
I have been watching Fringe Series 3 on DVD, and thoroughly enjoying it. I don’t want to post spoilers, because my DVDs are being lent to at least two people when I have finished with them; but last night I watched episode 3.16 – “Os”, and was delighted by the turn of events at the end. Both shocking and hilarious – I am still chuckling over it today, and can’t wait to see how it develops.
Anna Torv is a genius!
Had a fairly quiet weekend, as I’ve been nursing a bad cold, and this close to Christmas, I want to make sure I get rid of it quick.
It was a good excuse to watch some Fringe. I picked up the third season on DVD a few weeks ago, so today I watched the last two episodes of season two again, and then watched the first DVD of series 3 straight through. Brilliant stuff.
A year ago, I was discussing redesigning my lounge, resulting in the TV and sofa going in the smaller part of the room, leaving more room for dining/music/gameplaying activities around the table.
Having lived with it since February, I came to the conclusion that it didn’t work. I liked the “snug” aspect of the room, but came to the conclusion that the TV was simply too close to the sofa – especially when I replaced the old telly with a 42″ 3D beastie. For me it was marginal, but everyone who came to visit said “you know, your TV is too close to the sofa”, and gradually I began to come around to the same opinion.
I spent the whole day today making bread.
When I lived in Sussex, I used to do quite a bit of breadmaking by hand, but in more recent years, I have been corrupted by the electric breadmaker. So when I tried my hand at making sourdough this year (which needs longer proving, and isn’t really suited to a breadmaker), I had very mixed success – some really good loaves (which I posted about here), and some abject failures (which I didn’t boast about at all).
I’m in London, arrived early for a stag do tomorrow and making the most of it, looking around.
I have a birthday dinner planned in January, at Barbecoa, so today, I wandered down to 1 New Change to check the place out, and find a convenient place for people to meet before the meal.
I’ve not done a lot in the kitchen for a couple of weeks. I think at least part of it is due to not having Tim and Nev around, working on the garden or bathroom. That shouldn’t make any difference, but having people – and in particular friends – around the house tends to kick you out of apathy.
I was planning to do some stuff last weekend, but – aside from some shopping – didn’t feel like doing much at all. Anyway, i thought I should break out of the funk, and get going again. The kitchen is currently a hive of activity – there is a defrosted lamb shoulder in the oven, there is sourdough proving, and I’ve just started a pot of yogurt going, with goat’s milk.
My friend Chris Croughton, aka Keris, died on Thursday, as a result of a road traffic incident.
I’ve only just got the news. I wasn’t working on Friday, and was out for much of yesterday, so hadn’t caught up on email and stuff. This morning I got up, and found several subscription requests for my FILK_UK mailist – more activity than usual. I wondered what was up in the filk world, but didn’t think for one moment that it would be bad news like this.
Had great fun at Stamford Corn Exchange tonight, watching Ade Edmonson and The Bad Sheperds. A wide range of punk and other music from the same era, rearranged and performed as folk.
I have to admit that a few of the songs didn’t quite work for me, but there were some real gems – including the Buzzcocks “Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)”, Squeeze’s “Up the Junction” and The Sex Pistols “Anarchy in the UK”.
Was both amazed and delighted to discover that one of my favourite animation films of all time, Tim Burton’s ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ – has now been re-released on Blu Ray, and – more importantly – in 3D. Even though I already have it on DVD, I really can’t resist this!
Having finished the garden, and got my 4 veg troughs in place, I wanted to plant them, of course.
It’s taken a while, because of my car problems interfering with my trips to the garden centre, but I’ve managed to get some plants in – one trough is full of garlic and onions, while another has two rows of broad beans up the centre (and can be planted with something else, either side, in the spring). I had some onion sets left over, so I have planted the remainder at one end of my “Weed garden” – the trough filled with soil from my old weed-infested veg plot.